The South Asian/Asian region is bound by a similarity of issues, histories and political questions of identity but is today fragmented and dissipated due to several factors. While the ideological construct of ‘South Asia’ and what it means to be ‘South Asian’ are slippery terrain, given the current state of ethnic, racial and religious conflagrations that have erupted in the region, it is unanimously felt by artists in the region that it is crucial to find as many ways as possible to create healthy communication and people-to-people networks within the region.
Over the past 5 years, KHOJ International Artists’ workshop together with the Triangle Arts Trust has sought to develop partnerships with artist’s communities in the region (such as VASL in Pakistan and TEERTHA in Sri Lanka) via workshops and an artist’s residency programme. These workshops and an artists’ residency
programme have provided a larger constituency through which artists communities have begun to connect outside of institutional networks in a one–to–one manner the ripple effect of which has been extremely positive.
However, to maximize this ripple effect, and to reach other countries and a larger community of artists in South Asia/Asia, we believe that a tangible means of communication is required.
We wish to harness the potential provided by the Internet by establishing a communication network to empower visual artists in South Asia/Asia. It is for this reason that we are organizing a network meeting with a view to establishing an Internet Communications Network.
As we are all aware, the information revolution is forming a challenging new space (cyberspace) along side the physical world in which classical role patterns and power structures are slowly being challenged and reversed.
The information revolution has had sweeping cultural consequences as well. American English is the webs dominant lingua franca. In addition to the issue of language, the medium disseminates the American/western culture to all web corners of the world. The lack of indigenous content on the web obviously reinforces Western culture’s preexisting dominance and poses a new threat to cultural diversity in countries and regions such as ours. We believe that artists in developing countries may feel marginalized in the larger global arena of world art, dominated as it is by western knowledge models. As the British Research Institute Panos has noted, “if development depends on empowering people and communities to take control of their lives, access to information becomes an essential component for progress”
This network we hope, would offer hundreds of artists in South Asia/Asia the chance to share and access information, opening up new communication links and leading to an increase of artistic activities such as regional exhibitions, studio and teaching exchanges, educational and community outreach projects.
It is also of crucial significance to shift the focus of debate so that the main reference point is no longer the west. While there exists profound historical connections and commonalites between the different Asian countries, our normal instinct is to establish comparisons between each location and the “west”. The workshop hopes to establish sound precedents for a different kind of practice, which will initiate inter Asian comparisons.
This workshop also wishes to be more inward looking. It wishes to take into account the interpretation of contemporary art as it is seen regionally: to consider the often complex relationships between museums, artists, and the public in Asia which enables a real understanding of both traditional practices as well as new ideas and ways of working. An understanding and sharing of this context in which art making occurs within the region will enable us, we believe, to develop a “felt”, (more personal) critical discourse within the region.
Thus broadly, this network would be a means of bringing artists of the region together in order to:
- Share information and experiences
- Generate ideas and provide partnerships for collaborative projects
- Reflect on the needs of the sector
- Engage in professional development
We believe that this network will empower artists from the region and offer us the opportunity to experience – and question- our collective multicultural heritage.
The Objectives of the Communication Network are:
1. To give focus and identity to the network, which is developing around the workshops and residency programme.
2. To encourage active, regular participation by artists and to open the network to new talents and ideas.
3. To stimulate and promote a critical dialogue about contemporary art practice amongst artists from all over South Asia/Asia.
4. To provide a resource for the exchange of information of relevant local and international activities such as exhibitions, workshops and bursaries.
5. To facilitate the establishment of new workshops and residency programmes in new locations.
6. To develop and promote a local art market based on the strength and understanding of contemporary local and international art practice.
7. To provide educational resources to galleries, schools, art schools, libraries and the general public.
Pooja Sood
July, 2001
NAVAJBAI RATAN TATA TRUST
